He’d been tired a lot lately.
This went deeper than a physical exhaustion though. He was tired of always
fighting, always living on the edge and flying by the seat of his pants. Dimly
he could remember a time when being a Guardian meant everything to him, able to
mend and defend innocent systems from disaster and destruction. Nowadays it
seemed that he was only making things worse no matter what he did.

It had all started with the Web
War. Teaming up with Megabyte and Hexadecimal had seemed…well if not a good plan
then the best option available to him. And it had worked up to a point, they’d
got rid of the web creature at least before Megabyte showed his true
colours.

After that his life had gone
rapidly downhill, spending almost an hour in the Web just fighting to survive,
doing things that ordinarily would have made him sick. Eating Web slugs was a
perfect example. As was living by the rule of deletion first, questions later.
His guardian protocols counted for little in that place.

He had degraded there, his body
adapting to the ravages of the environment even if his mind and spirit refused
to do so. Silver scales now graced his face and torso while his hair was longer,
unruly, and blackened from its former silicon shade. He didn’t mind the changes,
welcomed then rather as a constant reminder of what trusting a virus could do to
you.

But sometimes, trusting a friend
could be just as lethal. He was finding that out the hard way.

After the web riders had come
across Matrix and AndrAIa he had thought things were on the up and up. He was
reunited with his friends, joined again with Glitch and on his way back to
Mainframe and Dot. Dot…the name echoed in his mind as he thought of the one
sprite he loved beyond life itself. He’d taken his time to tell her though,
thinking he had all the time in the net. He’d been wrong of course, terribly
wrong. He knew though that when he got back he would waste no time in telling
her of his feelings. If they got back that was.

Mouse was still the
same, that was for sure. The traps she had set were
expertly done and he had been left with little choice but to download Glitch’s
faulty code into his own in order to form a portal.

And things had gone downhill from
then on in.

Megaframe. His beloved
system, corrupted and all but destroyed when he had
first set eyes upon it. And yet something within still fought on, battled back
against the viral invaders. He could learn a lot from that he knew. They had met
up with Mouse, Dot and the others and begun the long hard battle against
Megabyte. A battle from which, they would eventually emerge triumphant.

But even then the war wasn’t
over, even if the battle was won. Megabyte’s legacy caused the system to crash
and once again Bob was forced to push himself to the limit in order to save it.
But save it he did, and there was much rejoicing.

For one night Mainframe forgot
its problems and settled back to watch a special showing of the Mainframe
Strolling Players. For after that they were to go up against a foe
who made Megabyte’s evil fade into insignificance.
Daemon was waiting. Waiting for him, her messenger.

There was no doubt about it
Daemon had been powerful. Far more powerful than he could ever be, even with the
full backing of Mainframe behind him. She had waltzed in, placed one dainty foot
on the ground and enslaved them all to the word. It still gave him
jaggies to remember just how desperate he had been
to please her. Prepared to delete in order to open those portals for her.

In the end it had been the
youngest and most inexperienced of them all who had saved them, Enzo. He had
resisted even when they had fallen. Of course they wouldn’t have saved the net
if it hadn’t been for Hex and her love for him. Sweet Hex, he had been the only
one to see the good heart buried underneath her wild, chaotic nature, and she
had returned his friendship with all of her being. Literally.

After all that you would think a
sprite could rest in peace, Bob thought angrily. Not for him, never for him. No
now, while everyone else enjoyed their freedom once more he was caught in yet
another fight. A battle he had to wage alone. This time though the stakes were
personal. This time he fought for survival.

And this enemy had the ability to
bring the net crashing to its knees.

“I know nothing of the sort my
friend. Didn’t you know, I’m a master of beating the odds.”
His voice sounded weak, even to himself.

The sprite chuckled, “Oh I know
Bob. Don’t forget I’ve been with you for a long time now. I know you and I know
the way your pathetic little mind works. You’ll cling to hope until the very
last nano. Even as you delete you’ll still be
hoping. I look forward to the time I can see that hope fade from your eyes Bob.”

“You’ll have a long wait I’m
afraid, I’m here to stay.”

A cruel grin spread over the
sprite’s face, “I don’t think so.”

Bob frowned. To hear the familiar
words in such a setting was disconcerting. They were his words, his mocking call
to the enemy ‘You can’t beat me but you can try.’ Now they were used against
him.

“Bob, Bob, Bob,” The sprite’s
tone was soothing, “I’m disappointed in you. Your friends have no idea of the
scale of this. You know it and I know it. You’re forgetting I walk around them
every day. I know they suspect nothing.”

“They’ll find you”, Bob cringed
inwardly, his argument sounded weak, pathetic even. And his enemy knew this, the
laugh filled the room and despite himself Bob listened. It was so
familiar, even he could detect no difference so how
could he expect his friends to know. No, he would receive no help with this
fight, this was one enemy he battled alone.

“And what do you think they will
do to me even if they do find me?” The sprite laughed again, a mocking sound.
“They can’t delete me Bob. Not without killing you too. Do you think they’re
willing to do that? Do you think Dot is willing to do that? I don’t”

“I didn’t think so. You see Bob
your trouble is that you’re too fond of life.” He chuckled, “Look at you now.
Even now you cling to life. You stubbornly refuse to delete no matter how hard I
try to shake you of that conviction.” He was angry now, the friendly façade
falling away quickly to reveal brown eyes filled with a level of hatred that Bob
had never dreamed possible. Especially when it was directed towards himself.

“As long as you’re here then I’ll
fight. It works both ways you know. You can’t delete me without deleting
yourself, you’re stuck with me.”

Again the enemy laughed, “For
richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death us do part. Powerful
words aren’t they Bob? And there’s no quick divorce from this marriage I’m
afraid. We’re stuck with each other until the end it seems.”

“Can I ask why? Why are you doing
this?”

“Why?” The sprites features
contorted suddenly in rage, twisting the good-looking face into something almost
unrecognisable, “Why? I’ll tell you why Bob. Do you
have any idea of what it’s like to be a slave? Always at the beck and call of
another, putting their well being before your own. I’ve had enough. Now it’s my
time to shine and I’m going to take it.”

“How long have you planned this?”

“Since the Web War. No one cared
when I was injured, overlooked on the sidewalk, in pain. They were too busy
worrying about you! Shot into the Web, lost forever. I was deleting, Bob and
they didn’t even care.” His voice rose as his temper bubbled over, “Well now I’m
going to make them care.”

“What are you going to do?” Bob
felt a morbid curiosity. Even in such a precarious situation he could feel the
pain of his enemy, almost tangible in the atmosphere.

“I plan to lead my kind in an
uprising Bob, what did you think I was going to do?” The sprite chuckled now
back to the cheery demeanour he had displayed
previously, “No longer will we be the underdogs in this so-called symbiotic
relationship. It’s our time now, I will show them how easy it is to corrupt and
conquer, and we will rule. The time of sprites is coming to an end Bob.”

“And what makes you so sure the
others of your kind will be willing to rise against us? They could be happy with
things the way they are?”

“I doubt that very much old
friend. No one can be happy when their freedom is forcefully taken away from
them.” The deep brown eyes focussed in, piercing
Bob’s very soul, “Are you happy Bob?”

There was silence then for a long
time. Both of them felt that everything that needed to be said had been said.
There was no point in prolonging the encounter. Bob spent the time gazing hard
at the sprite in front of him, an enemy far more insidious than Daemon could
ever have been. Deep brown eyes stared back at him, filled with hurt and pain of
times long gone now.

“I’ll fight you, you
realise that.”

“I know, you’ll fight and you’ll
lose. You’re not strong enough to beat me Bob. Every time you try you get
weaker. I feel it.”

“Maybe I won’t beat you, but I
certainly won’t give up trying.”

“Bob, you can’t do anything. Your
mind is weak and that’s all you are now.” The sprite smiled his twisted smile
once more. “That’s all you’ll ever be.”

“There’s always hope…”

The blue sprite tipped his head
back and laughed at that. “You and your hope. Believe what you will Bob but your
good looks and charm are certainly not going to get you out of this one.” He
smiled, “You don’t even have your looks any more. I’m afraid they belong to me
now. And now if you’ll forgive me, I’ve been in here too long. People are going
to start thinking I’ve gone random, talking to myself. ”

Bob watched as the blue sprite
gave him a mock salute. “Before you go, one last
question.”

The sprite turned back sighing,
“Make it the last.”

“Was there ever a time when you
were my friend and not my enemy?”

Bob stared hard into the brown
eyes. Eyes identical to his own in every way. A frown crossed the sprite’s
features for a nano and he ran his hand through his
long silvery black hair.

“I guess, once, a long time ago.
Before Megabyte and the war. I would have done anything for you Bob. I would
have deleted with pride if I had known that in doing so I had saved your life.
Things change” His face hardened, “No more questions now. I tire of it.”

He turned his back abruptly and
strode away. The old warped mirror attached to the wall behind him shuddered
with every step. Bob’s derisive laugh echoed through his mind, causing him to
clench his fists in anger. He knew the reason for the laughter.

“You can walk away from me
Glitch, but you can never leave me behind.” Bob’s words were silent, heard only
by him. Meant only for him.

Pushing open the door Guardian
452 left the small bathroom and entered the Diner. To the casual observer Bob
was looking drained lately. No one knew the reason for their guardian’s bouts of
flickering. No one even suspected that his energy drain was down to a constantly
ongoing internal battle between two minds. A fight neither party could properly
win for deletion of one meant death for the other. No one suspected the plight
of their guardian, trapped within his own mind, his body little more than a
morbid marionette for his keytool to use at will.

Violet eyes studied the Guardian
intensely, a frown playing over the young forehead. Perhaps one sprite did
suspect. And one sprite was all that was needed to turn the tide.